Film Australia have a fascinating collection of films of historical significance in their archives, including Life in Australia: Sydney, a promotional film showing footage of what everyday life was like for a Sydney family almost 50 years ago.

A few things I found fascinating:

Suits and ties everywhere, no bogans

Stay-at-home mums

Almost all white people

The “old rattler” train carriages that were still running until recently (yes, they’re that old!)

What happens when a bookstore orders too many copies of a particular book? I found out the full story only a few years ago.

It costs a lot of money to ship books around, and often publishers don’t charge the stores up front for the books, so the books will often be:

1. Remaindered, meaning marked with a pen on the bottom next to the spine and sent off to be sold cheaply elsewhere.

2. Have the cover stripped off and be destroyed (I’d always wondered why books often have an odd warning message about not being sold without the original cover in them – the publisher wants to be sure the books aren’t re-sold).

Well, I’ve found a place that sells remaindered books, and it’s fantastic. It’s called Basement Books, it’s near central station in Sydney, and I make every excuse to visit.